Tile & Grout Cleaning

Floor tiles and grout are difficult to keep clean. Traditional mop and bucket cleaning generally makes the situation worse. Grout lines in particular tend to become dirty and discoloured because they are the lowest point, which is where the dirt settles. Even smooth ceramic tiles tend to discolour over time.

Natural stone floors are often textured or pitted which makes cleaning them more of a challenge. Indeed modern ceramic tile often mimic these natural tiles with the same result. Over time even the most regularly cleaned floors gently discolour.

Grout is permeable which means that it very easily absorbs moisture, oils, soaps and detergents, plus food and drink spillages, This changes the appearance of grout which either becomes darker with dirt or it tends to fade. Grout on floors will often look darker and/or dirtier than when the floor was laid, sometimes marked with stains from spilt food and beverages. Grout around wall tiles often fades, and in the worst cases will become orange/yellow as a result of body fats and detergents or black with mould.

Dirty tiles and grout don’t look great and are unhygienic. Dirt collects in the grout lines along with traces of food matter and bacteria. Once again mop and bucket cleaning can often make things worse because unless it is done with very regular changes of water, and the initial wash is followed with a robust rinse to remover cleaning solution, the wash effectively just moves the dirt around until it finally settles in the lowest point i.e. the grout lines. It also adds to the dirty appearance by leaving a layer of detergent on the tiles.

Once discoloured there are few ways of resolving the grout issue other than replacing the tiles or chasing out the grout and replacing it which is expensive, time consuming, disruptive and dirty to do. Removing grout is difficult to do without damaging the tiles.